meal time in michigan

Last week, our event was in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was particularly excited because my dear friend, Midori, lives near by and we had plans to meet up. I met Midori a few years ago at a yoga retreat in Sayulita, Mexico. Midori and her daughter Jen happened to be on the same retreat as my mom and I. It was a natural friendship. We all had a blast together and laughed until we cried, on a daily basis. Sometimes you just click with people right away, that's how the four of us were. In fact, we had such a good time, we all went back for round 2 the following year. They are the kind of life-long friends you meet and love instantly.

When I realized our tour made a stop close to Midori's home, I was thrilled. Since the first time I met Midori, she always talked about me coming to Michigan so she could cook me dinner. I was excited to finally take her up on that offer!

When we got into town, we had a 4 day event ahead. Usually, we only work weekends - but since this was a huge event, it started on Wed. This event had the longest hours we've worked, thus far. It was quite the challenge at first, both mentally and physically. The people of Ann Arbor were great, so that made things easier. It was extremely hot and humid outside, so there were points throughout the day when people weren't too interested in doing yoga. For the most part, though, people were up for hopping onto a mat. Oddly enough, there were lots of men who tried yoga for the first time. It's always fun to introduce yoga to men who think its a piece of cake. I love to watch the experience open their eyes. Not all men, don't get me wrong... but, especially in the midwest, most men steer clear of that girly yoga stuff (or so they think). At this event, I had several really great experiences seeing people open up to yoga - both literally and figuratively. One of my favorite parts of my job.

So, Ann Arbor...what a neat city. It's a college town, as most of you know. The streets have a lot of character and charisma. There are restaurants, coffee shops and bars everywhere. Its a great place to wonder around the downtown area and people watch. That's the thing about being in the midwest - it feels safe. maybe it just feels comfortable to me, cause I grew up in the midwest. I am not sure, but it just feels safe. I enjoyed Ann Arbor. The look, the feel, the personality. Nothing too different or distinct that stands out, but I did like it a lot.

So, after the event was over on Saturday, Midori came to pick me up and take me back to her house for a few nights. As I should have known, Midori had an amazing meal awaiting our arrival to her house. Everything Midori does is done with extra love and attention. She is one amazing woman. She is so healthy, active and just glowing with beauty... it radiates from her. I hope to be like Midori some day. Being at her house was really great, too. She has so many photos and pieces of her life spread throughout her home. It was very cool to see her stories unfold.

Sunday, we took a brisk walk with the dogs in the morning and went to yoga class that afternoon. I was excited to meet her yoga teachers and the community she speaks so highly of, all the time. Of course, they were all just as great as she had portrayed. Natalie taught the class. She is just on the brim of receiving her Anusara certification. So exciting. I learned a ton from her. Her class was beautifully sequenced and playful. She had a way of making things seem so simple, even when they were challenging. She welcomed me to their community and made me feel like I had been there for years. It was great to practice with such a loving group of people. I liked the sense of community there. It fits Midori well.

Midori moved to the states from Japan, back in her mid-twenties. She has lived here for well over 30 years, but hasn't lost the honor and tradition to her roots in Japan - especially when it comes to food! Midori had planned an amazing Japanese meal and invited a few fellow yogis over for dinner. Everything was exquisite. I learned so much from Midori about what is true to Japanese tradition, compared to what I usually see on the menu at the next new hip sushi restaurants I usually pick. I really appreciated the detail and effort that went into the meal she made for us. I posted a bunch of pics below...you can see the amazing assortment we had to choose from. We made our own sushi, for the main course. Really, all we did was pick out what ingredients we wanted in each hand roll... Midori prepared it all for us ahead of time :) The food was great, the company was great, the vibe was great. We sat around eating and talking for hours. It was definitely a meal I will never forget! I was so happy to spend a few days visiting Midori. It was the highlight of my time in MI, for sure!

After Ann Arbor, we made a stop in Battlecreek, MI. We had a one-day even at the Kellogg's headquarters (since they own Kashi). The event was great. Everyone was very excited to try yoga and see the full spectrum of Kashi's mission. It was really fun to show off our exhibit to folks who were genuinely excited about Kashi. It was a good feeling to see them enjoy what we had to offer. Turned out to be a really fun stop.

Now, each member of our crew is back home, enjoying a week off. We are officially over half way through the tour. My how time flies! When we return back on tour, we have a new crew member to add to the mix. It's always a new day with a new twist on this tour... looking forward to part 2!



My new yoga friends at our dinner party :)



Our dinner table - the canvas before the food!


the first course -so yummy and colorful


the veggie assortment


the fish platter - tuna, eel, shrimp, red snapper, squid...



sweet beans - served with tea (after dinner, before dessert)


my first squid!


mid-meal bliss


beautiful Midori playing after dinner

pit stop

oh my, where do I begin... 

Last week was quite the eventful week.  I've been on the road about 3 months, now, and I was starting to really miss my family - so since I was only a few hours away for a change, I decided to stop by home in between events.  Sunday night, I hit the road about 9 pm after the event in Lisle. This put me home close to 2 am.  I was exhausted, but so glad to be home.

It turns out, I am really lucky I arrived at such a ridiculous hour.  About ten minutes after we got to my parent's house, we rushed my dad to the hospital.  He had a TIA, which is basically a warning sign for a major stroke.  My dad was fortunate to be awake and respond to this feedback from his body, before something even more serious occurred.  After several tests at the hospital on Monday, we learned that his left carotid artery was almost completely blocked and he needed surgery to prevent having a stroke.  Unfortunately, heart disease runs in our family, so this was not the first procedure my dad had experienced to keep his heart and arteries functioning properly.  That doesn't make it less scary, though, trust me.   He is doing ok, now.  Doing great, in fact.  He is back home and ready to swing a golf club in no time.  Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers last week - they worked :) 

This experience with my dad made me realize how important good health is to me...working for Kashi has made a permanent impact on my life.  I am learning so much about nutrition, overall health and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle .  I was raised eating healthy foods and was already very health conscious, but there were some grey areas here and there.  Not anymore.  There is no way I could go back to pretending I don't have the knowledge to live healthy.  There is no excuse.  In fact, its really not that hard to maintain.  You start to feel good, all the time.  You have lots of energy, so staying active is no problem.  When you give your body the right type of fuel, things just work better.  It makes perfect sense.  If you already do all of this, good for you.  I am truly grateful that you take interest in your health.  If you don't, please start.  And, if you need help, I would be happy to help in any way possible.

Living a healthy lifestyle is part of yoga.  When you practice yoga, your awareness increases.  You not only start thinking about how to move and breathe simultaneously, you start to think about your actions and even your words.  The awareness is contagious, really.  You start to stop and think, rather than just doing.  Its a beautiful thing.  I could go on and on about how yoga effects your life, but its really something you have to experience.  If you are looking for the first step to good health, just do yoga.  It works, I promise.  

After a few days of much needed quality time with my family (and pup), I was back on the road.  Saturday afternoon I flew to Indianapolis to join back up with my crew.  I was happy to arrive in enough time to meet up with Janet, Amanda and Sean for dinner that night.  Janet and Amanda have been coming to my class for a long time.  Back home, we made a tradition out of going to dinner after class every week.  When I told them I took the job with Kashi, they assured me they would make a road trip and come visit.  They held true to their word and met me in Indy.  It was so much fun to catch up with them and "play" yoga :)

Saturday night, we met at a place called Harry & Izzy's, downtown Indianapolis.  They told me they had a surprise before sushi and it would be the best thing I ever had.  I knew this had to be good.  Turns out, Harry & Izzy's has a signature shrimp cocktail that will make you cry your eyes out, then want more.  It's the sauce... they make it in house and shred their own horseradish right before serving it.  It was incredible - in a good/bad way.  Lots of fun.  After a few tears, we went to get sushi across the street.  We had a blast catching up and telling stories.  I am so glad they came to visit. 

Our event in Indy was at a tennis championship.  Apparently, there were some pretty big names there, but I wouldn't know the difference.  I don't follow tennis.  Anyway, my friends came to practice yoga for a bit, before hitting the road to go back home.  I showed them a few fun new tricks I've picked up on the road and we played around in my yoga tent for a while - we were upside down most of the time, as you can see in the photos.  Amanda's husband, Sean, even braved a handstand in the middle of the room.  It was a lot of fun.  I can't wait to practice with them again soon.

Even though I love being on the road, it is so great to have visitors on tour.  It feels like I get a little taste of home, even though I am gone.  Plus, I get to share this experience with people who are not on tour....which is always fun.  Life on the road...sure does keep things interesting. 

 

I am on vacation next week, for a whole week!  Pretty ironic that I spend my vacation days at home, now.  A few months ago, the term "vacation" had a completely different meaning.  I hope to see as many friends and family as possible, while I am back home.  I am teaching the Thursday 6pm class at my studio (Southtown Yoga).  I hope to see lots of my St. Louis yogi friends at class.  

This week we are in Michigan at a huge art fair.  We are definitely feeling the Midwest heat and humidity.  Keep your fingers crossed that I don't melt, while teaching yoga :)  Think cold thoughts...

Until next time....

B

 

kava, trying to sneak into my suitcase

"it will make you cry, but you will want it again tomorrow."

crying over my shrimp...notice how they are laughing in the background

sean, amanda, me & janet at sushi

sean doing handstand

teaching the girls my new fav headstand sequence

amanda, going for the long haul

janet, doing rock star style yoga :)

kashi yoga class in boat pose

saying goodbye at the event - thanks for coming to play yoga in Indy!

middle ground

As I mentioned last week, driving back to the Midwest was quite interesting.  It felt good to be in familiar territory.  Even the little things, like eating at Panera felt kinda funny.  All these things that used to be part of my daily life, were suddenly popping up all around me.  I think I liked it, though.

So, it says "Chicago" on our tour schedule, but our event was actually in Lisle.  Usually, we try and stay close to where our event is, so in this case, that meant Naperville, IL.  We had to go set up for our event, just a few hours after we arrived at the hotel. Set up is not too bad, but after driving 2,000+ miles in the past 3 days, we were all exhausted.  I went to bed super early that night, because the event started on Thursday.  On Friday, my good buddy Jaime came in town and worked with me all day at the event.  It was cool to have her around because it was like having one of your best friends on tour.  How great would that be?!  I taught her my "carnie" ways.  Not to my surprise, she was a natural :)

I was happy Jaime came to visit.  It was soooooooooo good to see her.  When I am back home (living my regular life) Jaime and I are together non-stop. We hang out all the time - playing, laughing, singing, dancing...and more laughing.  Needless to say, we have a blast together.  The great thing about good friends is that it doesn't matter how much time passes, you always pick up right where you left off.  Jaime and I did just that... and we managed to stir up a little trouble, while we were at it ;)

Friday was Independence Day, so we decided to go downtown Naperville to catch some fireworks.  The town was much more happenin' than we expected.  The streets were full of people and the restaurants and bars were packed.  Partly because it was a holiday, I would imagine, and partly because Naperville was a fun town.  The downtown was fairly small, but what is there, is worthwhile.  

On Saturday, Jaime was my demo girl.  I got to teach without doing every pose, like i usually would back home.  When you are working with pre-beginners, they need to see what the poses look like to understand. When teaching at a studio, at least one or two students usually know what's going on - so new students can look around and see what to do.  This also allows me to spend more time focusing on each student and giving more personal attention, when needed.  It was really cool to see this work at an event.  At the start of each class, I introduced Jaime and told people if they feel lost or confused, to look at her for guidance on each pose.  I have worked with Jaime for a long time, so I knew I could direct her with words alone.  Ideally, everyone would get in and out of each pose without looking to someone else for a demo, but for some folks that is a hard task to achieve the first few classes.  It was fun to have my yoga "protege" there with me.  I wish Jaime could come on the road with us as our demo girl :)

Teaching in Lisle was fun.  There were a lot of teens that came my way, throughout the weekend.  I think yoga is great for young girls that age.  It helps boost confidence and builds up strength.  Plus, its something they can do anywhere, at any time.  That is a good thing, considering teens don't seem to be as active as they should, these days.  I had a group of girls that came to class at least twice a day, all four days of the event.  By the end of the weekend, they knew a few fun poses, a little bit of Sanskrit and where yoga came from.  It was very cool to see them grow over just four days!  They claim they are going to start a yoga club in their neighborhood.  I gave them all Kashi yoga mats to get their club going.  more power to them!  I hope they do start that club. 

Sunday was an exciting day... I planned to come home for a last minute family visit.  From the second I woke up, I was anxious to get home!  Since we will be in the Midwest two weekends in a row, I planned to come home Sunday and leave in time to drive to Indianapolis for the next event.  It's been 3 months since I have been home to see my family.  I missed them and just felt it was time to stop in and say hello.  More to come next week on my time back home... stay tuned.

Jaime and I on break - picnic time

out on the town for a fancy dinner 

helllloooo, goat! (the petting zoo at the event)

little Jaime and I doing headstand

balloon glow in Lisle, IL

the bay - take 3

Third times a charm, right?!  Apparently, San Francisco is quite the ideal market for Kashi, being that we had 3 events there in the first 3 months on tour.  This time, we hit Marin County.  Quite different than the city of San Francisco, but still in the Bay area.  

This time around, I explored a bit more than the past two visits.  We went beyond the obvious downtown "hot spots" and found some interesting sights, I must say...  Since we were staying in Marin County (across the Golden Gate bridge), we had to take a Ferry to get to the city - which was also kinda fun.  I can't say I ride a ferry all too often...or ever, really.  

The other main difference was hanging out with the crew.  In the past, we would all do our own thing in each city.  We work together on weekends and drive from city to city together, so we usually spend our time off apart.  Not the case anymore!  Since we added Sunie to the team (our new natural foods chef), we all started spending more of our free time together.  It seems this crew has more in common, we like to do the same things.   Our first few days in Marin County felt like one big field trip.  We made plans for each day, met at the car, and headed out to explore!  It was nice to have a group of people to hang out with again.  Since I started this job, I am constantly around people.  Little to no "alone" time.  But, the strange thing about that is the people I am around are usually strangers.  So, I am never really alone, but never really with people I know.  Odd, isn't it?!  Anyway, being with my crew all week in Marin County was a blast.  We went all over the place: Zen Meditation Center, Muir Beach, Greens Vegetarian Restaurant, Maggie Mudd's Vegan Ice Cream Parlor, Haight & Ashbury, Yoga Class, Sushi, Castro District....  We were one busy crew of friends!

So, another huge bonus to this visit was attending Sianna Sherman's Anusara class at Yoga Kula.  Sianna is one of the most amazing Anusara teachers I have ever met.  She travels the world teaching yoga, so the past two times I was in San Francisco (her home base), she was out of town teaching.  From 2000-2003, she was lucky enough to assist John Friend's workshops and my mom and I were lucky enough to meet her during that time in Atlanta at a workshop.  We always remembered her for her magic touch and light adjustments that made such a huge difference.  She had a way of making hands-on adjustments without forcing you into a pose.  It was pretty amazing.... a few years later, we started hearing of her out on her own, teaching her own workshops around the country.  Her greatness spread fast, and is still going strong.  

Not to my surprise, she was just as incredible as I remembered.  Sunie and I went to her two-hour class on Wed. morning.  It was so great because this was Sunie's first Anusara experience.I was really excited for her to try it out.  What a treat to have Sianna make that introduction! The class was full of story-telling, a challenging asana practice, laughter, sweat and hard work - it was the ideal class.  We got into some deep back-bending and the poses that seemed impossible were suddenly accessible again.   Even scorpion pose was more approachable (than usual)!  It was so much fun.  It's crazy how easily we get "in our heads" about the practice, instead of using it as a canvas to explore and play within ourselves.  Sianna brings things back down to earth.  There is something about her that makes things so simple.  I loved every second of it, if you can't already tell :)

Let's see, what else... I bought a new didgeridoo, which makes me very happy.  My tour mates think I am some crazy person for loving the didge, but they will learn to love it.  It's addicting. 

Also, Pedro and I ventured off to the Castro district Friday afternoon for some fun people-watching and change of scenery.  The Pride festival was Saturday and everyone was talking about it.  Neither of us had ever been to that area, so we wanted to see for ourselves what all the hype was about.  It was definitely total entertainment.  We met so many fun people and had some great conversations that afternoon.  Not to mention the hot pink cosmo that I made Pedro drink with me at a corner bar :)  We had a blast.  It was another good day.  

The event was fun, too.  A little slower than usual, but since it was an Artfest, that's to be expected.  Those types of events tend to be slower.  People aren't as interactive.  I had a lot more kids than usual, though.  It was a fun change of pace.  I like teaching kids a lot more than I would have expected.  Their attention span triples when they are trying to figure out with their mind how to move their body.  Its really cool to watch.  They like to try and mimic adults and yoga is something they can actually understand.  

After the event, we made the long haul to Chicago.  It was funny to drive back toward the Midwest.  Even though I wasn't very close to St. Louis, there was a certain sense of familiarity as we got closer in.    It was an odd feeling, since I have been gone almost 3 months, now.  I didn't realize how different the west coast felt, compared to home.  I couldn't tell if these were things about the Midwest I had forgotten or things i never noticed.  Very interesting experience.  

Now, we are in Chicago.  My good buddy Jaime is coming to visit this weekend.  I am so excited I can hardly stand it!  On top of that, 4th of July happens to be one of my all time favorite holidays :)  Time to celebrate this country, our lives, this day.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO ALL!  

XOXO

Overlooking Muir Beach

Tree Pose + High Winds = Very Challenging!

Dia and Me

The Kashi Day of Change Crew :)

My new Yoga Buddy, Sunie :)

My first quail egg... interesting

Vegan Ice Cream - Maggie Mudd's

Testing out my new didge

Haight & Ashbury

Hot Pink Cosmos - Castro District